Seattle's Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda

"Prices are rising so quickly that the MHA payment option schedules may be insufficient to divert developers to the performance option."

In August 2017, the City of Seattle extended its Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) ordinances to two more areas: Central Seattle, at three key intersections along 23rd Avenue; and in the Chinatown-International District. MHA is integral to the City’s Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda, billed as a “multi-pronged strategy for addressing housing affordability.”

Affordable housing is a worthy goal, and some developers will prefer to expedite their projects by meeting the MHA’s performance thresholds. However, prices are rising so quickly that the MHA payment option schedules may be insufficient to divert developers to the performance option. For example, within two blocks east and west of 23rd Avenue, one of the targeted areas, the median selling price year-to-date has been $440 per square foot. Yet the highest payment option charge scheduled by the MHA is $32.75 per square foot—less than 7.5 percent of the median selling price in that area, and less than seven months of price inflation at current rates.

Impact: Developers in Seattle will generally prefer to maximize profits by opting for the payment option rather than the performance option.

Information was obtained from sources deemed reliable but cannot be guaranteed. Readers are encouraged to perform independent due diligence prior to relying on information contained herein. Views expressed by FutureCast Forum members are not necessarily shared by Realogics, Inc. E&OE.